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Illinois manhunt: Suspect groom made odd phone call

CHICAGO — The sister of a bride found stabbed to death in suburban Chicago said her new brother-in-law called a relative on the day the body was found and said he left his new wife bleeding after a “bad fight.”

It's the first detail to shed light on what evidence investigators may have given a judge to obtain a first-degree murder warrant for 30-year-old Arnoldo Jimenez. Police said they are aware of the account and are looking into it.

A manhunt is under way for Jimenez, who is accused in the slaying of Estrella Carrera, 26, shortly after they celebrated their marriage on Friday with friends, said police in the Chicago suburb of Burbank.

Police are pleading with Jimenez to turn himself in “for the sake of his family and especially his children,” Capt. Joseph Ford of the Burbank Police Department told the AP. “I am sure they are very concerned for his well-being.”

Most of the bride's family disapproved of her relationship with Jimenez, who is the father of one of Carrera's children, a 2-year-old boy, according to an older sister who talked to The Associated Press on Wednesday. Jimenez had hit and bruised her sister in the past, Jazmin Carrera told the AP.

The sister described Jimenez as “very possessive” and jealous. She said she doesn't understand why her sister married Jimenez on Friday at Chicago's City Hall. The wedding plans seemed rushed. Jazmin Carrera missed the celebration at a restaurant and nightclub after the ceremony — she'd been invited via a last-minute text message from the bride.

“It was just all of a sudden,” Jazmin Carrera said. “She didn't give us enough notice.”

Family members became concerned when Estrella Carrera failed to pick up her two children Saturday as she'd arranged. They were unable to reach Carrera or Jimenez by cellphone, so they asked police to check on her well-being. That's when the body was found in a bathtub, clad in the silver, sequined cocktail dress she wore at the wedding reception. Ford said it was possible she was also wed in the short dress.

On Sunday, relatives heard from a sister of Jimenez that he had called that day, Jazmin Carrera told the AP.

“She said that he was crying and he was really nervous,” she said. “He said they had a really bad fight and he had left her bleeding.”

Jimenez hung up on his sister and wouldn't pick up when she called him back, Carrera said.

Ford said Jimenez was previously arrested for domestic violence in another city in a case that did not involve Carrera. Police don't know what Jimenez does for a living, although he was last known to be driving a black 2006 Maserati, an expensive car.

“We do not believe Jimenez is a danger to others, but we certainly do not know his mind frame at the present time,” Ford told the AP.

After Friday's nuptials, the couple had dinner with friends at a restaurant, then headed to a nightclub in a party limousine. They were last seen at 4 a.m. Saturday.

Since the killing likely took place mere hours after the couple went to Carrera's Burbank apartment, the suspect had a day to flee the metropolitan area or even the state, Ford said.

“It was a very brutal killing,” Ford said. “We do our jobs every day, of course. But something like this really motivates you to work even harder.”